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Iraq War Veteran Shot Dead In Alabama

A 33-year-old Iraq war veteran was killed in front of his Alabama home.

Police believe Jonathan Michael "Mike" Gilotti was gunned down in the early morning of January 5 when he confronted somebody breaking into his car. Gilotti was likely on his way to the gym when he left his Hoover, Alabama home and encountered the suspect.

According to AL.com, one shot was fired and Gilotti collapsed in front of his home. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Hoover Sun reported that at least 10 car burglaries were reported in the vicinity of Gilotti's home and police are now using them as potential leads in finding the suspect.

“We’ll be treating each of those car break-ins as if they might yield evidence of a murder, which they might,” said Hoover police captain Gregg Rector. “We’ll be going to great lengths and great effort to process each of those cars and to see if that one car might be the critical piece of evidence we need to solve a crime.”

AL.com reports that Gilotti was a native of Connecticut who served as a U.S. Army tank commander, first lieutenant and platoon leader in the 12th Cavalry Regiment during the U.S. invasion of Iraq, which claimed the lives of more than 150,000 civilians and 4,000 American soldiers.

After his war service, Gilotti worked at a claims office for State Farm.

"This is an individual that served his country, he's a hard-working guy,'' Rector told AL.com. "This victim was about as innocent of a victim as you could get."